Saints 1-0 Norwich - Match Thread

[Lee On Solent Saint]

6 hours ago, Saint Shady said:

That was a really weird decision. I wonder why they thought it would be a good idea to loan out a player that’s championship proven quality to then buy and loan two others in his place. I think we’d have a few more points if Bree was in our lineup from the start. 

Totally agree. Wasn't Bree's biggest fan since he joined, bit fair play to him. He's been a massive reason for our upturn in form.

[Sheaf Saint]

20 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Totally agree. Wasn't Bree's biggest fan since he joined, bit fair play to him. He's been a massive reason for our upturn in form.

It's no surprise to me really. Even in the darkest times of last season's horror show, he was consistently our best player when he was in the pitch. He's one of those players in the mould of Paul Telfer who never seems to let the occasion get the better of him and will always give you a solid 7/10 performance no matter what. 

[kitch]

Another great performance. Looked like we were low on energy which is understable given all the games recently, but they battled hard. Azaz, Downes and THB all different gravy, but Peretz man...don't fall in love with loan signings, eh?

To a man they all put another big shift in. Whole team should feel good about itself at the moment.

[swedish dave]

I won't waste more time on my comments about the referee (on other thread).

A very welcome 3 points from a scrappy game that lacked much in footballing skill.

Peretz to the rescue once again, we surely must sign him in the summer.

An excellent performance from Sam Edozie who put on a good show for the absent Scienza 

and was unlucky to have one goal ruled out, and a penalty shout that VAR would have OK'd. 

Downes and Stephens have redeemed themselves after all the early season criticism they received.

Azaz too, has developed himself in a good role, after a rather uneven start to the season.

Having got into the Top 6, our big challenge is to stay there until the season's end, and win the play-off spot.

[Paul_B]

10 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

A combination of Bazunu and Still has effectively done us for the autos, which is shame. 
 

But on the plus side, I thought this season was a right off so the playoffs potentially is incredible.

As for tonight… we’ve demonstrated  every version of how to win (and lose) this year. Shoddy performance but gutsy and immensely satisfying.

Peretz… incredible.

I think it's more down to the fact Turkish didn't say we would go unbeaten from the very start. He's got to take responsibility for this. 

[Saint86]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

And signing Downs. The trilogy of shite decisions.

Perhaps, but Scienza, Azaz, Peretz, and Jander are all superb signings. Larin is a solid addition given limited financial wriggle room as well. Fellows is a good player (but he's off form lately), and the club have broadly done well defensively from a depth perspective (if you consider the players that have been out over the season we've been pretty solid there so far). CM was always strong - i don't think there is a better CM in the league than ours with Downes, Jander, Charles, and Bragg. And its worked out very well letting Bree go out for fitness and a reset, and then the decision to bring him back in - i think he is our best RB now...

Been a few misses as well (their always are in truth), but Spors has done pretty well with his first 2 windows - not to mention the fact that he largely cleared out the stink of last season and shifted an impressive number of players out the door.

Edited 1 hour ago by Saint86

[Totton Saint]

What was shown on the highlights

was most impressive, if not scintillating,

 

 albeit was in isolation from the rest of the play

[Greedyfly]

Having just watched the highlights again can I reiterate - the ref was fucking shit.  Awful awful performance, and I don't often bother making comments like that because we all know the state of them sometimes, and I do genuinely believe it evens out.  But he was fucking awful, goal should have stood, Edozie should have had a pen and at least one of their players should have been off in the first half.

[malcolm waldron]

I was surprised with how physical Norwich were from the outset last night.  Our old friend Jack Stacey I thought would target Edozie early on - I thought he deserved a booking in the opening minutes and it's a shame we didnt target that side far more after he finally got the yellow card. 

As for their no. 20 - I've only seen it once in real time but it looked like he smashed his shoulder into Jander's face right at the start of the 2nd half?  I doubt I'll see footage of that in the highlights but that to me was a second yellow and then they're playing a whole half with 10. And then it's a different game completely.

[LiberalCommunist]

Even this morning, I'm still surprised we didn't concede a late goal in that game. 

Time and time again we have fluffed it in the late stages. But it does feel different now. Having a real keeper is going to change our weak mentality, as fans and players.  And this head of steam we are building has come at the perfect time. 

No one will want us in the play offs. We might not be ready for promotion, but there sure is  good path right now.  

Crazy season. 

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Perhaps, but Scienza, Azaz, Peretz, and Jander are all superb signings. Larin is a solid addition given limited financial wriggle room as well. Fellows is a good player (but he's off form lately), and the club have broadly done well defensively from a depth perspective (if you consider the players that have been out over the season we've been pretty solid there so far). CM was always strong - i don't think there is a better CM in the league than ours with Downes, Jander, Charles, and Bragg. And its worked out very well letting Bree go out for fitness and a reset, and then the decision to bring him back in - i think he is our best RB now...

Been a few misses as well (their always are in truth), but Spors has done pretty well with his first 2 windows - not to mention the fact that he largely cleared out the stink of last season and shifted an impressive number of players out the door.

No perhaps about it. I won't deny that we've done well with other signings and the club deserve credit for them but equally it's not an exaggeration to say that those three decisions have likely cost us automatic promotion.